On Thursday, June 21, we celebrated the Summer Solstice. Hopefully, we will slow the pace down, relax more, spend more time with family and friends, and recreate, that is re-create! Let us give thanks to God for the gift of summer:

Under the warmth

of the summer sun

the world awakes and blossoms

into every imaginable colour.

You created a garden for us to enjoy

and within it planted

the most magical of flowers and trees.

You needed no horticultural training

to plan your colour scheme

no gardening expert

to recommend variety or design.

Your garden is perfect

its colours harmonious

its scale immense

spoilt only by the clumsiness of those who tend it.

Creator God

who breathed this world into being

who is discernible within

the harmony of nature

the perfection of a butterfly’s wing

the grandeur of a mountain range

the soaring eagle and humming bird

thank you for this world

which you have created.

Thank you for summer sun

which reminds us

that your creative breath

is still alive and active.

Thank you for the warmth of your love

sustaining this world

your garden. —John Birch, Kidwelly, Wales